Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs HAProxy comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.9
A10 Networks Thunder ADC delivers cost-effective management and performance, simplifying configuration and reducing staffing needs for operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.9
HAProxy offers cost-effective traffic management, enhanced efficiency, and high ROI through streamlined processes and reduced manual intervention.
Improved uptime stands out, with our uptime statistics rising from around 98% to consistently above 99.900, meaning reduced SLA penalties while keeping our clients happier.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
A10 Networks Thunder ADC support is responsive and helpful, with quick resolutions and knowledgeable regional teams, despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
6.9
HAProxy's customer service is swift and effective, but open-source support lacks the comprehensiveness of enterprise alternatives.
Since we are utilizing the open-source edition, community forums, mailing lists, and GitHub have been invaluable, with typically someone having encountered the same problems we faced.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
A10 Networks Thunder ADC efficiently scales and integrates devices, managing traffic and business growth, but could improve some features.
Sentiment score
7.8
HAProxy is praised for its scalability, efficiency, and flexibility, handling thousands of connections and supporting mid-sized deployments seamlessly.
HAProxy's scalability is excellent; as our traffic expands, it handles load increases effortlessly.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
A10 Networks Thunder ADC ensures high stability and uptime, supporting reliable performance for numerous users with minimal maintenance.
Sentiment score
8.1
HAProxy is highly stable, reliably managing heavy traffic with minimal downtime, efficient support, and consistent functionality improvements.
This reliability serves as a key reason for our choice, providing us with confidence even when faced with heavy traffic.
 

Room For Improvement

A10 Networks Thunder ADC requires improvements in usability, security, integration, scalability, documentation, cloud support, automation, and pricing.
HAProxy needs better GUI, dynamic configuration, user-friendly logging, REST API, cloud integration, security, and community features.
The configuration syntax is powerful yet can become overwhelming for newcomers; a more beginner-friendly interface or a native GUI without relying on third-party tools would ease the onboarding process.
 

Setup Cost

A10 Networks Thunder ADC is competitively priced with embedded licensing, easy setup, but variable ongoing support costs.
HAProxy is cost-effective, praised for simple licensing, robust features, and valued by enterprises despite requiring expertise for setup.
In summary, using the open-source version incurs low financial costs but requires an upfront effort to set up, resulting in an overall cost-effective experience.
 

Valuable Features

A10 Networks Thunder ADC provides high performance, robust security, and flexibility with easy configuration, supporting various cloud environments.
HAProxy is praised for its excellent load balancing, reliability, customization, scalability, advanced traffic rules, and open-source integration.
By moving all SSL termination to the load balancer, I now manage certificates in a single place, and I can also utilize Let's Encrypt with HAProxy's built-in ACME support, making renewal automatic.
 

Categories and Ranking

A10 Networks Thunder ADC
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
HAProxy
Ranking in Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (19th), Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (24th), Bot Management (12th), Service Mesh (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) category, the mindshare of A10 Networks Thunder ADC is 4.8%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HAProxy is 11.1%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
HAProxy11.1%
A10 Networks Thunder ADC4.8%
Other84.1%
Application Delivery Controllers (ADC)
 

Featured Reviews

RonaldoDE Melo - PeerSpot reviewer
Protects connection and servers from direct access with control access feature
The initial setup is very simple. The issue is that it achieves high output across all its features, specifically the output ports. This affects the customer's solution because sometimes, the customer is even aware of the user's activity on certain servers. If you have all the necessary information, we can quickly deploy the solution within two to three days. The size of the Thunder ADC depends on its configuration. For example, the cache converter typically includes more than two rack units, often requiring at least three rack units for adequate space. I rate it a ten out of ten, where one is difficult, and ten is easy.
Mehdi El Filahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful for for small and quick load-balancing tasks
What I like best about the product is its simplicity and speed. When you need to set up a load balancer quickly, HAProxy offers options like sticky sessions and round-robin. It's also fast to configure, including adding SSL for security. While it may have fewer options than other solutions like F5, HAProxy gets the job done for basic load-balancing tasks. The reliability features of HAProxy were particularly useful in a scenario where I needed to test load balancing between two Tomcats. Since these domains were inaccessible, I set up a third Docker with HAProxy, which had access to the Tomcat domains. I then configured HAProxy to handle the load balancing. This setup allowed the client to interact with HAProxy. The solution's integration with other elements is easy.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) solutions are best for your needs.
871,829 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
I would recommend A10 Networks due that it delivers high performance in a small form factor to reduce OPEX with significantly lower power usage, rack space, and cooling requirements compared to oth...
Do you recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC?
I do recommend A10 Networks Thunder ADC. It's very user-friendly, easy to configure, and flexible. It is a very useful solution - especially now, when a lot of employees are working remotely. I hav...
What do you like most about A10 Networks Thunder ADC?
A10 Networks Thunder ADC is an easy-to-use and flexible solution.
Do you recommend HAProxy?
I do recommend HAProxy for more simple applications or for companies with a low budget, since HAProxy is a free, open-source product. HAProxy is also a good choice for someone looking for a stable ...
What do you like most about HAProxy?
The solution is effective in managing our traffic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HAProxy?
Our experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been quite straightforward. Since we use the open-source edition, there are no licensing fees, with the main cost being the infrastructur...
 

Also Known As

Thunder ADC, AX Series
HAProxy Community Edition, HAProxy Enterprise Edition, HAPEE
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

123inkt.nl, Bentley University, Box, Brainshark, Buienradar, Capgemini, CGN/LSN & NAT64, Chengdu Telecom, Club One, Code Ready, CRC Health Group, Cyso, Deutsche Telekom, Earth Class Mail, Excite, FFF Enterprises, Florence County, Framingham State University, From30
Booking.com, GitHub, Reddit, StackOverflow, Tumblr, Vimeo, Yelp
Find out what your peers are saying about A10 Networks Thunder ADC vs. HAProxy and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
871,829 professionals have used our research since 2012.